Jawed akhai, ppma chairman, addressed a press conference. He stated that dra lacks effective functionality without it being passed by an act. He further threw light on the pharmaceutical industry facing hardship post the 18th amendment that moved the health sector to the provincial government from the federal.
Akhai also said that the parliament did not pass the drug regulatory authority dra ordinance into an act, even though it was publicized after a frantic and intensive struggle. He further stated that ppma had previously insisted the government to smoothen the functioning of dra to continue the pharmaceutical business without any hindrance, while the drug registration process is streamlined.
However, the dra level has many policy matters still pending and these are an obstruction in showing the actual potential of the pharmaceutical industry.
Contract manufacturing, pricing mechanism, vitamin policy and other relative matters are included. Akhai mentioned that the industry still has to receive a price mechanism for providing leverage to regulate the prices against cost escalation that is in relation to inflation and reduction of pak rupee against foreign currencies.
In 2001, the last &ldquoacross the board price increase&rdquo was granted following a massive cost escalation to affect the inputs&rsquo cost in drug manufacturing.
The price increase is awarded on selected basis and the amount of cost increase barely eases. He also said that the government is being influenced by ppma for providing special incentives to pharma industry. This is to increase exports and provide a subsidy on the certification process through fda, who, eu and others, which are the regulating bodies of the world. The process of getting new license for manufacturing or renewing it should be advanced to help the industry. He also states that along with this, there should be a defined timeline to complete the approval process of the section and area.
However, akhai grieved over many products prices of pharmaceuticals that are lower in india in comparison to pakistan. The input cost of pharma products in india is reduced due to the availability of active pharmaceutical ingredients api being manufactured locally and the low cost of utilities. In contrast, pakistan has duties or sales tax on many inputs.
For instance, raw material have up to 10 per cent import duty, packaging materials have up to 20 per cent import duty, import of packaging materials, higher cost of utilities and other services including logistics and insurances have another 16 per cent sales tax.
Prior to extending mfn status to india, akhai insisted that the government provided a level playing field to the local pharma industry and said that otherwise, the local industry will become uncompetitive due to high input cost against indian pharma companies. Httpdawn.com20121002pharmaceuticalsseekregulatoryactforsmoothfunctioning
